PHOTODETECTO

RS
NAME:E.C.CHANDEEP
CLASS:B.S.PHYSICS
REG NO:RA2231512010004

06/05/2024
PHOTODETECTORS
• Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There are a wide variety
of photodetectors which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or
by various performance metrics, such as spectral response

PHOTODETECTORS

Photo-Emissive Photo-conductive
detectors detectors

Photon multiplier
Photo conductors Photodiodes Photo-transistor
tube(PMT)

PIN diodes Avalanche photo-diodes

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General characteristics of photo detectors
• Quantum efficiency

• Responsivity

• Rise time or impulse time

• Noise power or dark current

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General characteristics of photo detectors
• Quantum efficiency
It is the ratio of carrier flux which produces photo current to the incident photon flux

• Responsivity

This gives information about how much power will generate how much photocurrent
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General characteristics of photo detectors
• Let φ be the photon flux incident on the material with absorption coefficient ∝.

• (The absorption coefficient describes how much light is absorbed by a given thickness of a material. A higher
absorption coefficient means that the material absorbs more light per thickness(l).

• ∝ = log10 (Io/I).
From beer lambert law: Beer-Lambert law explains the relationship between absorbance, path length and concentration of
a given material.

So absorbed intensity is
Fraction of light that is absorbed
= ()
• Let reflective co-efficient be R and transmitted be 1-R. so the photon flux
transmitted will be (1-R) φ.
Fraction of photons that is
• The absorbed photon flux is φ*[ (1-R) ) ] absorbed

• Let ζ be the absorption fraction of photons that causes electron hole pair and
contribute to the external current. 06/05/2024 5
General characteristics of photo detectors
• Not all photon will generate e-h pairs. If N number of photons are absorbed only ζN number of photons generate
current.

• The unintentional introduction of defects in the semiconductor material due to material impurities or during the
fabrication process causes the deviation from optimal performance. These defects are referred to as trap states, or in short
“traps”, which are energetic states within the bandgap of a semiconductor.

• Some photon’s energy will be used to generate phonons.[A phonon is a definite discrete unit or quantum of
vibrational mechanical energy]

• Some photons will excite the electron to the trap state instead of conduction band. So the carriers are not free.

• Some of the photons might recombine as soon as the electron get exited providing no photo current

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General characteristics of photo detectors
• So we can say that the all the e-p pairs will not contribute to current. Due to these 0< ζ <1

To calculate the number of photons responsible for current generation is φ*[ (1-R) ) ] ζ Fraction
that
contribute
Total photon to current
Fraction that
enters the Fraction that
material are absorbed
• η=

• A device fabricating engineer cares about all these factors.

• If R=0 , =1 and = 0(Ideal case). Efficiency will be 1 . In practice only 0.9 to 0.95 is possible.

• Non reflecting films can be used to reduce R.

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General characteristics of photo detectors
.
• Now lets convert

For the light which is incident normally,

This technique is extremely efficient for [For minimum thickness n=0]

optical signal transfers
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General characteristics of photo detectors
• Lets convert to zero.

• must be very high.

• Lets say we use GaAs laser of 1.5ev on germanium.

• So we get around 20000

• Now we care about the factor: ). The thickness x we can use can
how much absorption a material must have. Lets say we need our
material to have absorption of 0.9.

• So, ). = 0.9

• = -ln(0.1)
GaAs
• =

• 1.15μm. Only 1 micrometer thickness of Ge is required to absorb

90% of light. So germanium have an advantage in this case
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General characteristics of photo detectors
• . Leta see how to increase ζ

• This is a fraction of how much e-h pairs generated and responsible for current.

• We must create a stable e-h pairs that does not recombine easily. So we must use a material that has less
defects. We have to careful while fabrication.

• We must give an external bias to drive the e-h pairs generated or else they will recombine.

• By analyzing a graph plotted between η and wavelength

• We will notice that η is not constant.

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General characteristics of photo detectors
• We will notice that η is not constant because at higher wavelength, the energy of the incident photon will be less.
Due to this the formation of e-h pairs will be less.

• At lower wavelength part the energy of incident photon will be high so we

might expect that η would be higher but that’s not the case we see this trend
because of 2 main reasons:-

1. Hot carriers:-
• Hot carriers refer to electrons or holes that gain very high kinetic
energy .
• At lower wavelength the energy of photons will be very large than band gap
of the materials we use. So the electrons will get excited to conduction band
with very high K.E. and its known as hot electron.

• These hot electrons will lose its K.E. in the form of phonons and move down
the conduction band. The electron loses its energy and this leads to non
radiative re-combinations.[Non-radiative recombination is a process in
semiconductors, whereby charge carriers recombine while releasing
phonons]
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General characteristics of photo detectors
2. Trap states formed due to dangling bonds:
• A dangling bond is an unsatisfied valence on an immobilized atom.

• These bonds are defects in our material. They will cause formation of trap states.

• At lower wavelengths the energy would be very high. Which increases the absorption co-efficient at these energy
range of incident photon, lots of photons will be absorbed ate the surface of the material where dangling bonds are
present

• Due to this electron excite to trap state and recombine as soon as e-h pairs are generated contributing less
photocurrent

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Impulse response of photo detectors
• Impulse response is the amount of current produced by impulse. Impulse here means the sudden increase in number
of incident photon.

• We can find the current using Ramo’s theorm. The Shockley–Ramo theorem is a method for calculating the electric
current induced by a charge moving in the vicinity of an electrode.

• The Shockley–Ramo theorem states that the instantaneous current induced on a given electrode due to
the motion of a charge is given by:

where
q is the charge of the particle;

v is its instantaneous velocity; and

is the component of the electric field in the direction of at the charge's instantaneous position, under the
following conditions: charge removed, given electrode raised to unit potential, and all other conductors
grounded.

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Impulse response of photo detectors
The ramos equation if one photon is incident is given by:

𝑣h 𝑣h
𝑖h ( 𝑡 ) =− ( 𝑒 ) ∗ − =( 𝑒 ) ∗
𝑤 𝑤 (𝑣 𝑒 +𝑣 h )
𝑖 ( 𝑡 ) =( 𝑒 ) ∗
𝑣𝑒 𝑣
𝑤
𝑖𝑒 ( 𝑡 ) =− ( − 𝑒 ) ∗ =( 𝑒 ) ∗ 𝑒
𝑤 𝑤

We assume that carriers generated are moving in a constant velocity. The e-h
pairs are generated at x.

So the electron will travel from x to w and hole from x to 0.

The time period till which the charge carriers will move over the semiconductor
is given by

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Impulse response of photo detectors

• We considered a photon hitting our material at t=0.

• The time till which the current of electron and holes will persist is given by and . The total impulse response will be
given by dotted lines in graph

• Now for our detector to have good impulse response, the current produced by the photons should not persist.

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Impulse response of photo detectors

Fig.1 Fig.2

• For N number of photons we will see that the carriers will be collected by the ends of the material. So the current
produced will reduce with time.

• We want to narrow down the impulse response of our detector as given in fig.2.

• It can be done by making the = . This can be done by making the photon to hit incident near the anode or negative side of
our material. This take more time for the electron to be collected. And holes will be collected sooner.

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Impulse response of photo detectors
• There is another factor which is responsible for the change in impulse response. That is the RC time
constant . This will be seen in photo diode since they have junction capacitance

• The diagram given is the detector circuit consist of a diode operating in reverse bias.

• Time constant τ =

• The cutoff frequency is given by,

• Manufacturers will mention what load resistance will be suitable for the material’s capacitance in the
data sheet.

• Drift velocity of e-h pairs are also another factor which can be changed by changing voltage

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WORKING PRINCIPLE OF PHOTOCONDUCTORS
• A Photoconductivity is an electrical & optical phenomenon where a material turns more conductive electrically because
of the electromagnetic radiation absorption like infrared light, ultraviolet light, visible light, or gamma radiation.

• Once a semiconductor material absorbs light, then the number of charge carriers & also its electrical conductivity will be
increased.

• Once the light ray strikes the surface of a photoconductive material then it provides enough energy to cause electrons in
the material to move away from their atoms.

• Therefore, free charge carriers like holes & electrons can be created within the material, its resistance will be decreased.
So this is called the Photoconductive effect.

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WORKING PRINCIPLE OF PHOTOCONDUCTORS
• The following diagram shows charge carriers within a semiconductor. The conduction of the
current within a semiconductor takes place by electrons & holes within the valence band.

• Semiconductors are available in two types like Intrinsic & Extrinsic. Pure semiconductors are
intrinsic and when impurities are included to a semiconductor for increasing its conductivity is
known as extrinsic.

• Here, the impurity which is added can either increase the number of electrons or the number of
holes.

• Once the light rays drop on the semiconducting material, then the electrons in the valence band
absorb the photons & jump immediately into the conduction band by leaving holes.

• So the increased number of electrons & holes within both the bands will increase the material’s
conductivity. So the conductivity increase is mainly because of the light dropping on the
material, which is known as photoconductivity.

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Conductivity of photoconductors
• Drift current is the electric current, or movement of charge carriers, which is due to the applied electric field

𝑣𝑑 ∝ E
( is mobility of the semiconductor)
• Electron mobility characterizes how quickly an electron can move through a metal or semiconductor when pulled
by an electric field.

( is conductivity)

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Current density of photoconductors
• . The initial thermal-equilibrium conductivity is

• If excess carriers are generated in the semiconductor, the conductivity becomes

• where n and p are the excess electron and hole concentrations, respectively. If we consider an n-type
semiconductor, then, from charge neutrality, we can assume .We will use as the concentration of
excess carriers. In steady state, the excess carrier concentration is given by

• where GL is the generation rate of excess carriers (cm3 -s1 ) and is the excess minority carrier lifetime. The
conductivity can be rewritten as

• The change in conductivity due to the optical excitation, known as the photoconductivity, is the

• An electric field is induced in the semiconductor by the applied voltage, which produces a current. The current
density can be written as

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Current produced by the photoconductors

• where J0 is the current density in the semiconductor prior to optical excitation and JL is the photocurrent density. The
photocurrent density is . If the excess electrons and holes are generated uniformly throughout the
semiconductor, then the photocurrent is given by

• where A is the cross-sectional area of the device. The photocurrent is directly proportional to the excess carrier
generation rate, which in turn is proportional to the incident photon flux.

• If excess electrons and holes are not generated uniformly throughout the semiconductor material, then the total
photocurrent is found by integrating the photoconductivity over the cross-sectional area

• Since is the electron drift velocity, the electron transit time, that is, the time required for an electron to flow through the
photoconductor,

• The photocurrent, from Equation (14.22), can be rewritten as

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Physical logic
• We may define a photoconductor gain, ph, as the ratio of the rate at which charge is collected by the contacts to the rate
at which charge is generated within the photoconductor.
• We can write the gain as

• Let’s consider physically what happens to a photon-generated electron, for example. After the excess electron is
generated, it drifts very quickly out of the photoconductor to the anode terminal.

• In order to maintain charge neutrality throughout the photoconductor, another electron immediately enters the
photoconductor at the cathode and drifts toward the anode.

• This process will continue till a time period equal to the mean carrier lifetime. At the end of this period, on the average,
the photo electron will recombine with a hole.

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Physical logic

• The electron transit time, using the parameters, is tn = 7.41 x 10^-9 s. In a simplistic sense, the photoelectron will
circulate around the photoconductor circuit 135 times during the 10^-6 s time duration, which is the mean carrier
lifetime.

• If we take into account the photon-generated hole, the total number of charges collected at the photoconductor contacts
for every electron generated is 183. When the optical signal ends, the photocurrent will decay exponentially with a
time.

• From the photoconductor gain expression, we would like a large minority carrier lifetime.

• But our impulse response will be broader since the current in the material will stay for longer time and be persistent.

• There is obviously a trade-off between gain and speed. In general, the performance of a photodiode, which we will
discuss next, is superior to that of a photoconductor.

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Materials used:-
• Two types are used:

1. Intrinsic :- eg: InAs(0.36ev), InSb(0.17ev),

• These two materials have exceptionally high electron mobility of 33000 and 8000 respectively.

• is lattice matched with CdTe[2.5ev, which is in visible range], but HgTe [0.3]

• So by varying the we can control the operation from IR to visible spectrum[0.3ev-1.6ev].

2. Extrinsic :- Ge:Hg[0.09ev] ,Ge:Cu[0.04ev]

• They are highly sensitive to low energy photon.

• But they have to be used in a col,er environment since they can excite in room temperature.

• This will increase noise or dark current. These detectors are usually operated in 77K
temperature.

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Materials used:-
• We have compensated our impulse response for recombination time. To avoid this we will setup the material as shown
below

• We use interdigitated electrodes(IDE’s) they will pull the charge carriers as soon as e-h pairs have been generated .

• This method will pull the charge carriers faster than usual method. This is an high speed design.

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I-V characteristics:-

• As the voltage increases charges moves faster

• This causes more current.

• But at higher voltages since all the e-h pairs generated by photons are collected, the current will to increase

• It will increase if the number of photons increases

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